Volkswagen Beetle and the car I drive when I turn 16

In My Humble Opinion
1

I am close to turning 16 and the two cars we have are a 2001 Volkswagen Beetle with Turbo Engine and a silver 2000 Chrysler Plymouth. Both of these cars I do not want to drive. I find the beetle a very feminine car. The van is just…a van.

Do other people think that the Beetle is just not a ‘male’ car? or is it just more of a female car? the older beetles i would not mind driving around, but the new ones just seem so feminine.

So what would you guys suggest i do when I turn 16? drive the Beetle, Drive the van, or avoid both and buy my own car (yeah right)?

2

Personally, i’d say get off your high horse. You’re 16. Take what you can get.

that said, the beetle turbo is one damn nice machine. I in no way support this, but if you want to feel manly go find a rice rocket to burn with the beetle.

3

it’s not that I’m on a high horse. I just dont want to look like a dumbass or a fruit

4

Feel free then to go out get a job, save your money and buy one of these or one of these. Don’t forget that you have to pay for insurance on your new G ride.
Oh you can’t afford the Ferrari or the Vette? Then STFU and drive what is available. :wally

5

If you hadn’t said you were 16 I still would known from you stupid ideas about how you would look in a New Beetle. Although I’m pretty sure your aversion to a sissy car like the Beetle is from your worry about what you buddies will say. Damn, I know this is important to you but let me tell you something. Don’t worry about what someone else thinks about you. Hell I’m 41 years old and I just wish I would have had the cajones when I was 16 that I do now. I own A New Beetle (2001) and get this in the Cyber Green color. It’s a TDI (turbo diesel injected). You want know what? It is the most fun I’ve ever (carwise). Don’t worry about how other people perceive you in any situation. Only you know what’s right for you.

I will say this, go get a job and buy your own car. You may think you can't do it, but if you want a car bad enough you will find a way. I've owned many cars over the years but every one was bought by me, with my own money. I gaurantee that you will appreciate your car a whole lot more than if you were just handed one. Anyway, enjoy the "difficult" decisions you have now because in a few years you will working on a whole different level.
6

Well, FWIW, the charming Shayna just commented on your dilemma as follows: “Chicks dig bugs.”

I’ll just be my own grumpy self and join in the chorus of “bloody well drive what’s available and be thankful, too!”.

7

I’m stunned that you went so far as to say you didn’t want to look like a “fruit.” A fruit? Do you know where you are? That kind of crap is what gives us teenagers a bad name. Come off it.

At 16, I would have gladly killed for a car. Any car, as long as it was operational. I say suck it up and drive whatever you can. If you’re that worried about image, then the time you will spend sitting at home rather than out and about will provide plenty of opportunities for you to rethink your priorities.

And btw, I find your sig amusing, but probably not for the same reasons you do.

8

When I was 16 I drove a ten-year-old shit-brown Capri. It got me from Point A to Point B. At no point was I worried about looking like “a dumbass or a fruit”, because, frankly, I had a car and lots of other kids didn’t. I’ve also got nothing against Beetles; my father-in-law the Colonel restores them as a side business (the old ones, not the new ones) and there ain’t nothing fruit-like nor dumb about him.

So unless your particular Beetle is bright pink and has “Barbie’s Dream Car” stenciled on the side, stop worrying about your image and be happy you’ve got wheels at all. Whiner.

9

This was a stupid, seemingly pointless question. Quote: “So what would you guys suggest i do when I turn 16? drive the Beetle, Drive the van, or avoid both and buy my own car (yeah right)?”

But abbaZaba’s gotten some stupid responses. He’s not being a “whiner”. It sounds to me like the rest of you are just sore that your parents didn’t give you a car however many years ago. Get over it, and don’t be resentful when another kid gets a free car. You aren’t allowed to decide AbbaZaba can’t get a nice car because you didn’t, if his parents are that financially stable.

10

No, abbaZaba is yet another example of the insane sense of entitlement that todays AssHat teenagers have.

Gee, he can’t stand the 2 cars that his family has ,so he wants one of his own. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

The phrase, “Spoiled, self centered, self indulgent ego centric brat” fits him quite nicely.

He would do well to just shut the hell up and deal with what he has without complaining.

11

Hey, Freiheit, did you read any of the posts? He’s not getting a free car, he’s getting the use of one of the family cars. Then he has the gall to worry about his image in said cars. It seems to me that all the posters are slamming him about his attitude not about getting a free car. Now, if you would take the time to read my post you might figure out that he got a little free advice about growing up. If that doesn’t seem kinda obvious to you then I’ve got wonder about you’re maturity also. Oh, and just so you know I wouldn’t let my parents buy a car for me. At 16 it was important for me to pay my own way once I got a job. IMHO.

12

Well, I’l be 16 too in a few months, and I’m REALLY looking forward to getting my own car. We only have a big honkin huge standard deisal thingy which I’m not allowed to drive because I’m not a boy.( Go figure; I can shoot a gun, and yet I can’t drive mother’s husband’s truck because its “not made for girls to drive”… sexist pig. :mad:

Plus, I like the idea of buying my own car. That means mother can’t take it away(well, yes, she can, but I can feel even MORE sorry for myself this way :D) because I bought it with my OWN money.

And I kind of agree with the majority of the people here…

Have you not read any of the posts in this forum? I’d said around half of the dopers here are homosexual… you might as well say you don’t want to look like a faggot, because you know how people think you’re a queer if you’re driving a dome shaped car!
and you kinda sound like a dumbass(no offense :D) by saying that, so theres no helping that you might look like one, no matter WHAT car you drive…
You ARE giving us teenagers a bad name.

I’m saving up. I’ve been saving up since I got my jobs. I intend to buy my car with my own money… I think that that would be the responsible thing to do… Thats why people have jobs, isn’t it To buy themselves things?

Of course, if you’re too lazy to get a job, or you can’t be bothered to waste your money on something logical like your own vehicle, then wouldn’t you think that having 2 vehicles at your disposal is damned lucky? So WHAT if you think you look “like a fruit” while you’re driving a beetle; the only people that would think that are the ones who DON’T have a car and despise you for it.

13

Well now, Miss Magic8ball I got to had it to you. Thats what I like to hear from young people just because it’s so rare nowdays. That’s the way that my wife and I are trying to raise our sons. Good for you.

14

I just had to comment on Testacleaz’s username.

I’ve often pronounced “testacles”, “testa-kleez”. I mean, why not? “Hurcules”, eh?

As to the OP: Dude. The New Beetle is totally hip. Chicks dig 'em.

Hell, my first car was a '66 MGB roadster that I got from my mom! [sub]Um… Okay, it was pretty hip.[/sub]

[sub]And yes, I know it’s un-hip to say “hip”. That’s why I say it. Groovy.[/sub]

15

Well, I don’t mean to be a bitch, but you’de have to be pretty stuck up to not want to drive a FREEish car just because you don’t think you look good in it…

Take what you can get. Feel lucky you don’t have to pay the gas and insurance for it…

Lots of kids here drive thier own cars. And lots of them have more hten one job… its 98.9 cents a litre(canadian) for regular gas here, and because of the icy roads, insurance is high. Guys here would probably drive a hot pink car with flowers all over it if they didn’t have to pay for anything but the odd tank of gas…

Count your blessings, Kid.

16

I wish I had lived in a different state when I was (given, not much) younger. I couldn’t even get my full license until I was 18, and here there are kids getting theirs at 16. FWIW, I would drive either of your parents cars (preferably the van if you’re worried about what people will say) until you’ve saved enough for a car of your own. The local want ads usually have lots of driveable cars for cheap prices ($299-2000).

I have a college-age friend who complains that he needs a car, but cannot afford one. He has a well-paying restaurant job (5 days a week, makes about $75 in tips per night) from now until September. Since he’ll be bringing in about $6,500, all of which is disposable, I was baffled. I asked him how it was possible that he couldn’t afford a decent car for that much money. Surely there were good used cars for that price, as well as ones available to lease.
“That’s crap,” he cried. “Once I get done paying for the $2,000 sound system, $3,000 souping it up and adding torque, and $1,000 for a new paint job and headlights, I’m not gonna have any money left!” I pointed out that he’d still have $500.
“That goes towards my gas money and vanity plates.” :rolleyes:

17

When I was 16 I kept procrastinating and never went to drivers ed. Since I never went I couldn’t get my license until I was 18.

Kinda glad I waited, saved thousands of dollars in insurance costs and probably more from the potential accidents a 16 year old can cause. When I turned 18 I had to borrow my moms '94 geo tracker to go to college and work (We had an extra car). I complained all the time about it. I despised that car. I didn’t get my own car until I turned 19, it was a used '96 Blazer. I made $300/month car payments and had about $1200 as a down payment. Really nice first car, worth the wait. My mom and dad paid my insurance for me (I pay it now that I make more money) and in the beginning they even paid for my gas until I bought my gas guzzler.

Then about 15 months later and 3 months before I would pay the Blazer off completely, it caught fire and was totaled. I replaced it with a 2000 Bravada.

I just thought I’d share my story with ya.

By the way, when I was looking for a vehicle of my own I seriously thought about getting a minivan, a 2000 Chrysler wouldn’t be a bad car to drive. A lot of friends can ride along with you in a vehicle that size.

Oh yeah, that tracker I drove had betty boop dolls in the back and tweety bird floor mats (my mother made it quite clear that it was HER car and that taking that stuff out at any time would mean certain death).

18

A free car is a free car. My parents gave me their old 94’ Dodge Intrepid when I turned 16. Yeah, I hated it at first and wanted something cooler, but I love my car now. I don’t care if anyone else doesnt like it.

If someone is gonna judge you for what kind of car you drive, then they’re pretty fucked up, I’d say.

19

Man. I turn 18 at the end of this month. I drive a van. A minivan, really, specifically an Isuzu Oasis.

Sexy? Nope

Fast? Uh-uh.

Cool? HELL no

Car? Check!

Man, I’d love to have a nicer/different car, for both practical and personal reasons. But the van (with an occasional trip in my dad’s Prius :D) is what I’ve got, and hell, it works, don’t it? Plus, it’s usually available when I need it, and my parents don’t hesitate to let me use it when it available. For this priviledge, I have to pay to fill the gas tank every month to month and a half or so. That’s it. 20 bucks a month. So maybe my car isn’t all that hot, but man am I lucky!

In short, driving IS a priviledge, and if I were you I’d view it as such. Being able to drive around for little or no money is even more of a priviledge. I would be grateful for the priviledge, rather than worrying about how “fruity” (jerk:rolleyes:) you’ll look in that Beetle - which is a considerably nicer car than mine.

Heck, I’ll complain about my car good-naturedly, or even in complete earnest if it’s being a pain in the butt, but I can’t ever forget that it’s here for me and works, and will continue to work in the forseeable future. In 134,000 miles, yeah, it’s had its troubles, notably with the brakes, but it has not once failed to start and it has not once failed to bring me safely home. Now THAT’S cool ;).

And PS for Magic8Ball: I feel for ya, hon. That IS a sexist attitude, and woefully out of place. I would suggest finding a friend, if you can, who is willing to teach you to drive stick. It’s definitely a skill that everyone should have, IMO. Good luck!

20

D’OH! :smack:

If any wandering mod feels the urge to correct my coding above, please, feel free…

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